Da Nang police bust fake coffee operation producing nearly 1 tonne daily

The city’s economic police unit confirmed that Nguyen Van Hoang, 50, of Thanh Khe Ward, was detained and his wife Ngo Thi Bao Vang was banned from leaving her place of residence, as investigators expand the probe into large-scale food fraud.

The married couple owned Phuong Nguyen Production and Trading Co. Ltd., which had been operating since 2014.

Authorities launched the investigation amid a surge in coffee bean prices that prompted major brands to raise retail prices, while suspiciously cheap coffee powder continued to circulate in the market.

Police tracked dozens of suspected locations and identified Phuong Nguyen Company as a major source of counterfeit coffee.

Although the company was registered at a commercial address in Hoa Khanh Ward, it secretly operated production in a narrow alley in Thanh Khe Ward, raising red flags for investigators.

Police said the suspects mixed soybean powder with chemical additives and flavorings to imitate coffee, producing large quantities for sale.

Once sufficient evidence was collected, five task forces raided multiple sites in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, arresting the suspects and seizing more than two metric tons of fake coffee powder labeled ‘Phuong Nguyen.’

The seized goods were valued at hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong, equivalent to several thousand U.S. dollars.

Investigators urged consumers who purchased specific batches of Phuong Nguyen coffee products, manufactured on various dates from October 2025 to January 2026, to stop using them and hand them over to authorities for further investigation.